Imagine a situation where you are a small business. You reach out to a mobile app service provider sharing how your business problem is about retention of customers and how you want an app to help you resolve it. Getting new customers is not a concern, but increasing the regularity with which earlier customers order is. So overall having a steady revenue stream is a challenge.
The service provider’s app has many features and some of those are aligned to your need – so the solution provided to you, seems to meet your needs and give you a bit more. But in reality, it dilutes your actual need – because instead of focusing on the core problem of retention (through engagement of existing customers), it clutters the minds with additional features which are more relevant to new customers, not existing ones.
What went wrong? The technology was perfectly fine. The problem that the small business had was clearly stated. The issue was that the fitment of needs to the solution was not made, and the solution was sold based only on technological features.
As an entrepreneur, your biggest role is to create a sense of trust in the service/product that is offered by your organization. The customers and potential customers need to know that there is value in what they are buying and that it is matched to their requirements.
In today’s world where new and enhanced technology is entering the marketplace each day, and there is so much to offer, where should the venture draw a line? Given that technology provides multiple features and convenience, should that be the core proposition that your business offers to a customer? Your core product is technology based so you may tend to position that as your core strength. But that is where the problem lies.
Irrespective of how the world changes, the fundamental principles of customer service and solutions, remain the same. Customer needs should be the top priority and that is the base on which any solution should be designed. A lot of times, companies and their client managers tend to build the solution based on technology but forget to align it to the customer requirements in the best possible manner.
So understanding the problem and solving that, is the approach, not pitching the technology and its features, when a customer reaches out to you for a solution. The customer has 7 requirements, your technology addresses 10. Your focus should be on creating a solution based on those 7 so that there is a business impact for the customer, not to try and sell all 10 features.
Yet another mistake that we make is to become extremely technical when sharing a solution and its details with a customer. The customer does not always understand or want to know the exact intricacies of the technology.
So the best approach is to keep it simple – explain the value that it will create, the needs it will address in simple and easy to understand terms. The customer’s focus is on knowing how it will improve his or her business – so your solution should cover that element and connect the technological features to that parameter.
If you tend to get into complex terms or even general solutions, your customer is bound to lose interest. So the application of a certain offering to his or her business should be clear in your pitch.
As solution providers we always need to remember that communicating the “Why” you are offering a particular solution is far more important than the “What” you are offering, especially if the customer is a novice in terms of his or her understanding of technology platforms and applications.
About the Author: Amit Dua is the Co-Founder and CEO at Signity Solutions and ValueAppz